Succinct summation of week’s events:
Positives:
1) July Payroll gain surprises to upside led by 154k private sector job adds
2) US debt ceiling is raised, modest debt reduction agreed to, finally the noise ends, for now
3) Fitch and Moody’s reiterate AAA US rating with caveats, still waiting on S&P (we’ll see if they cave to political pressure and do nothing or stick to their threats)
4) MBA said that apps for refi’s and purchases rise with mortgage rates down to 4.45%
5) Italy waits all week to finally get off their beach chairs with the possibility of faster ‘fiscal consolidation’ and other changes
6) ECB will likely start buying Italian and Spanish debt, however, will they sterilize it like they did with other purchases of PIG debt???
7) SNB and BoJ give some relief from their screaming currencies 8) US July vehicle and retail comps exceed estimates
Negatives:
1) In gold terms, S&P’s retest March ’09 low of 666
2) European banks get crushed again as they experience their version of our ’08
3) US gov’t decides to take on even more debt by raising the ceiling, budget cuts spitting in the wind
4) SNB, BoJ intervene, another week of disgust with fiat currencies
5) ISM mfr’g and services in US both soften further 6)PMI mfr’g in China, India, Taiwan, Europe/UK all weaken
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